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Water wells will be tested again

Goliad County groundwater district will check in area of uranium exploration

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  • Tara Bozick •
  • Originally published January 8, 2009 at 11:38 p.m., updated January 8, 2009 at 11:38 p.m.

GOLIAD - The Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District will retest water wells in a uranium mining exploration area to see if water quality has changed.

The groundwater board on Monday chose 11 wells to be sampled on the tentative date of Jan. 20, general manager Barbara Smith said. Two of the wells are on property leased by Uranium Energy Corp. for uranium exploration and mining activities.

The uranium company will participate in an observer capacity and may also test wells on the leased property, Josh Leftwich, environmental manager, said. The company has worked with the groundwater district since 2006, when it sampled 40 wells in cooperation with the district.

Uranium Energy Corp. suggests that all well owners, including those away from the exploration area, sample their water and know what they're drinking, Leftwich said. The company had discovered radium in water wells that had never been tested, he added.

The results for the 11 wells will come back in six weeks, Smith said. A $5,000 grant from Texans for a Sound Energy Policy Alliance, a group that opposes the proposed Victoria County Exelon nuclear plant, will pay for the tests.

The groundwater district will also take over water level monitoring from the state for eight wells as requested by the Texas Water Development Board, Smith added.

The Goliad district monitors water levels in-district twice a year.

"We've had a little drop in the water level overall," Smith said. "We have not had the rainfall and we desperately need it."

  • Summary of Goliad County Groundwater District's sixth year:

    69 samples from individual water wells processed

    115 water level measurements taken, 27 for first time

    90 new wells registered and located

    11 replacement wells registered

    Started three-year study of the ...

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    • Summary of Goliad County Groundwater District's sixth year:

    69 samples from individual water wells processed

    115 water level measurements taken, 27 for first time

    90 new wells registered and located

    11 replacement wells registered

    Started three-year study of the Coleto Creek Watershed under U.S.Geological Survey

    Requested a contested case hearing on the underground injection control area permit application UR03075 filed with the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality for uranium mining



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